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ABOUT THE MUSTANG HERITAGE FOUNDATION

Giving wild horses and burros a home since 2001.

OUR Mission

End off range holding requirement for America’s wild horses and burros.

At the Mustang Heritage Foundation, we've always believed wild horses are a living, breathing symbol of the American heritage and freedom we embrace. 

That’s why we’re dedicated to showcasing the grit, resilience, versatility, and talent that makes them special—so the more than 64,000 American mustangs and burros in off range holding can find a loving forever home. 

 

What We Do > 
History & Legacy > 

Board of Trustees > 

Staff > 

Trainer's Council > 

What We Do

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EDUCATION

Mustang & Adoption Information Hub

Equine Industry Event Sponsorship
 
Mustang Marketplace
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EVENTS

Mustang Heritage Spectacular 

Extreme Mustang Makeover 

Great American Mustang Auction
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PROGRAMS

Mustang Trail Program 

Mustang Mavericks (Youth)

Foundation Membership

OUR Impact

24,000

MORE THAN

MUSTANGS & BURROS PLACED

10,000

NEARLY

ADOPTERS &
PURCHASERS

$128MILLION

ESTIMATED

ANNUAL TAX SAVINGS

You can help give wild horses and burros a loving home.

"I’ll never forget the feeling when I bonded with my first mustang Winston.

 

He was 2 years old when I adopted him from the Online Corral. He’s now 6 years old and not only takes me on trail rides to beautiful places, but he also helps me teach lessons to beginner riders.

Winston is SUCH a joy and everyone who meets him wants a mustang just like him!"

~ Laurie Capper

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 History of the
Mustang Heritage Foundation

Established in 2001, the Mustang Heritage Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit with a mission to help wild horses and burros.

Our goal has always been to decrease the number of wild horses and burros in off range holding facilities. 

At the inception of MHF, our focus was to increase the number of successful adoptions and placements into private care. Successfully, we placed more than 24,000 mustangs and burros into private care from 2001 through 2023. With annual off range holding costs of approximately $2,000 per mustang, that means our forever home placements have helped save the American taxpayer more than $128 million each year, on average. 

Beginning in 2006, we partnered with the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse & Burro Program to increase adoptions of mustangs and burros.

Through that partnership, we created the Extreme Mustang Makeover and Trainer Incentive Program (TIP), paving the way for thousands of successful placements. 

Extreme Mustang Makeover 
First held in Fort Worth, Texas in 2007, the first-of-its-kind event featured 100 trainers who had each spent 100 days training a wild horse. In time, Extreme Mustang Makeover events were held across the country, showcasing the trainability and versatility of the American mustang. While the nature of the event has evolved, the Extreme Mustang Makeover continues today as part of our Mustang Heritage Spectacular. 

Trainer Incentive Program (TIP)
The Trainer Incentive Program (TIP) was created in 2007 to engage talented horse trainers across the country to help gentle, train, and find homes for wild horses and burros. The TIP Program met some truly amazing goals such as placing 3,503 mustangs and burros and paying out $3,709,312 directly to TIP Trainers and Storefronts in fiscal year 2022.  In Fall 2023, our official partnership with the Bureau of Land Management ended, bringing the TIP program to a close.

The end of our partnership with the BLM opened the door to a new era for the Mustang Heritage Foundation. With every new program and partnership, our mission to end off-range holding requirements for wild horses and burros leads the way. 

We’ve been at the epicenter of the mustang and wild burro community for many years. This amazing community is a large reason for the success of our programs—and will be the frontrunner for success moving forward. 

We’re honored to help steward one of the most courageous animals you’ll ever meet—the American mustang.

With new and revived fervor for our mission, the Mustang Heritage Foundation will continue our charge of ending the short-term holding requirement for America’s wild horses and burros.

Will you join us? 
 

GET INVOLVED

The key to our success at the Mustang Heritage Foundation is the passionate dedication of mustang and burro trainers, fans, adopters, supporters, donors, and sponsors that support our mission.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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Gary Holt

Chair

Gary Holt grew up about an hour east of Nashville TN on the family farm. His dad, “H.I.”, was a businessman who loved and owned horses and Gary grew up breaking colts and managing the family’s breeding operation. Attending Lipscomb University in Nashville with majors in business and music he has spent the last 45 years in the financial services industry and is owner and president of Legacy Advisors, as well as the Equestrian Legacy Radio Network. He hosts two award-winning weekly radio shows, Campfire Cafe and Saddle Up America. He is married to the multi-award-winning singer/songwriter Mary Kaye and they currently reside in Nashville.

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Paula Carr

Vice-Chair

Paula Carr, and husband, Randall, owns and operates Carr’s Wild Horse and Burro Center in Cross Plains, Tennessee. Since 1979, their operation has been responsible for the adoption of more than 20,000 wild horses. Paula is the Chair of Robertson County Farm Bureau and has been awarded “Tennessee Farm Bureau Woman of the Year” several times.

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Mark Bolender

Treasurer

Mark Bolender is a man with a diverse background as a teacher, several years in upper management in the banking industry as well current owner of a well respected construction company. Mark developed a passion for horses 29 years ago at the age of 39. He took that passion to the show world and eventually took that passion to become a full time horse trainer and owner of Bolender Horse Park. Along with his wife Lee Bolender they started a new equine discipline called Mountain Trail. An association was started to oversee this as it grew to an international level. International Mountain Trail Challenge Association (IMTCA) is now in numerous countries around the globe. This discipline has been mastered by all breeds and brings all riders and disciplines together in both English and Western in the same class.

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Shelly Nice

Secretary

Dr. Shelly Nice has been involved with mustangs ever since 2015 when her then-12 year old daughter, Cat Zimmerman, competed in her first Extreme Mustang Makeover. She credits the Mustang Heritage Foundation with changing their lives. They moved from New Jersey, where she was a college professor in NYC, to rural North Central Florida and started a mustang training center as well as a rescue and sanctuary. Dr. Nice is also a best-selling author of Amish Christian fiction (under the pseudonym Sarah Price) with over 60 titles published. Additionally, she is a fifth grade English and Social Studies teacher in Levy County, Florida. She holds a PhD in Education, MBA in Marketing, and MA in Corporate and Organizational Communication.

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Jennifer Kizzar

Trustee

Jennifer Kizzar, CPA is a businesswoman with a passion for horses. She is currently Director of FP&A for RTI Surgical and has more than 25 years of accounting and finance experience in multiple industries including banking, utilities and biotech. Most of her life has been spent in North Florida. But she learned about mustangs when she moved to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas with her husband and was determined to own a mustang. Now living her dream with her own mustangs. She is married to Daymon Kizzar, who works in law enforcement and has a son Dawson who is currently serving in the US Army.

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Trina Morris

Trustee

Born and raised on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies, Trina Morris has earned her way to become a talented horsewoman. Her horseback life began as a two year old riding in a packing box to Mt. Assiniboine learning the tricks of the trade from her farrier, teamster, and outfitter father. In her teen years, she jumped into the world of English riding and competed in three day eventing, hunter/jumper which took her to New Zealand and to the world of western pleasure horses. Upon returning to Canada, she met her late husband and moved to California where she cowboyed near the ocean calving heifers and doctoring cattle. Trina now resides in Wheatland, Wyoming on her ranch where she has a small herd of cattle and readies a few nice horses for resale every year. She conducts horsemanship and cow working clinics for people all over North America and on her ranch.

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Skip Ewing

Trustee

Skip Ewing is a singer, songwriter and horseman. He has had songs recorded by Keith Urban, Zac Brown Band, George Strait, Keb Mo, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and numerous others. His No. 1 hits include Collin Raye’s “Love, Me,” Diamond Rio’s “I Believe,” Kenny Chesney’s “You Had Me from Hello,” Clint Black’s “Something That We Do” and Bryan White’s “Rebecca Lynn,” and many more. Though music will always be his first love, Skip developed a passion for horses and discovered he had a gift for working with them. “I rode literally thousands of miles horseback in Wyoming,” he says. “I started studying horsemanship and horse training, and I just began learning so much about myself from horses that it inspired me. It was another part of my spiritual journey. Meditation was a big part of it and horses became a big part of it. They were interwoven.”

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Mike Major

Special Projects Advisor

Mike Major is a clinician, owner and trainer at Mike Major Horsemanship and is the 2022 and 2023 World Champion of Road to the Horse. As a lifelong horseman, Mike has ranches in New Mexico and Texas. His relationship with Mustang Heritage Foundation includes judging several Extreme Mustang Makeovers and a brief period of working with Mustangs in a Prison Program in New Mexico. Mike brings his knowledge and expertise to support and advise MHF’s Board of Trustees in helping develop new programs designed to place more of America’s wild horses.

FORMER BOARD MEMBERS

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B.F. Yeates

Trustee Emeritus

“B.F. Yeates is a legend in Texas and the United States as an educator, judge, horseman, and builder of large programs for youth and adult horsemen,” said Doug Householder, Texas Cooperative Extension professor emeritus. In the 1950s, there were no youth horse shows of any kind. Yeates and other like-minded AQHA pioneers decided to include youth classes, adding three new classes: showmanship, equitation, and horsemanship. Yeates helped write the very first rules for those classes at the 1966 AQHA Convention in Las Vegas. The committee also made the recommendation to form a junior association of AQHA. Yeates helped recruit youth members from each state to affirm a constitution and elect officers; he then served as the adviser. His work on the committee shaped the organization into the AQHYA that exists today. Long before videotapes were common, Yeates also helped pioneer clinics and short courses. He decided clinics and short courses were the best way to spread information about nutrition, horse care, and horsemanship. Yeates also nurtured the horse judging program. Having been a member of Texas Tech’s livestock judging team, he understood judging contests. Yeates sat down and figured out the cuts and classes. Then he began educating youth and adults on how to judge horses and how to give oral reasons and grade cards. Horse judging began to spread from youth to college teams and high school FFA chapters and judging certifications in breed and even associations were born. He became an AQHA judge in 1957, serving 43 years. Yeates served on AQHA’s Ranch Horse Versatility Advisory Committee in the 1990s and judged the first Versatility Ranch Horse contest. Yeates still judges AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse classes, as well as breed and event shows. Yeates was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2006.

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Fred Woehl

Trustee Emeritus

Fred Woehl has been involved in the horse community for over 50 years as a trainer, natural horsemanship clinician, and educator. He has been involved with the Equine Science Department at the University of Arkansas and taught Equine Science at North Arkansas College. He has volunteered for the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program for 20 years, conducting demonstrations of wild horse versatility and assisting with adoptions. He also served on the BLM National Advisory Board for 6 years, 5 of those as Chairman. Additionally, Mr. Woehl worked as a senior agricultural adviser for the U.S. State Department from October 2008 to November 2009 in Iraq, where he was responsible for developing and implementing agricultural programs and policies for the Ninewa Province. From November 2009 to March 2011, he worked in the Kingdom of Jordan, for the Department of Interior’s International Technical Assistance Program, where he developed policies for horse use and trained the local Bedouin tribesmen in humane methods of training and the use of horses at the Archeological Park of Petra. Mr. Woehl also shared his love of mustangs at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri for 8 years, doing 3 shows a day telling the mustang story and promoting the adoption program. Fred currently has three BLM mustangs used for “How to” training and versatility in various demonstrations throughout the United States and goodwill visits at nursing homes, schools, and churches.

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John Falen

Trustee

John Falen ranched cattle in Orovada, Nevada. He started out in southern Idaho working feedlots, buying cattle, and eventually owning and operating a feedlot and livestock trading enterprise. Until his death in 2022, he and his family ran two Nevada ranches. John served on numerous boards throughout his lifetime, including Nevada Cattlemen’s, Nevada PLC Committee, NCBA Executive Board, NCBA Wild Horse Burro Committee and Public Lands Council. Mustang Heritage Foundation was proud to have John guiding the organization as a board member for many years.

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Randall Carr

Trustee

Randall Carr, along with his wife, Paula, owned and operated Carr’s Wild Horse and Burro Center in Cross Plains, Tennessee. Randall was born on their farm in Cross Plains, Tennessee. He owned cattle and farms hay, tobacco and grain. In addition to Tennessee, Paula and Randall managed wild horse facilities in Texas and Ohio. Randall is an accomplished horseman and enjoyed working at cattle and equine events. This lifelong horseman passed away in 2022 and MHF was immensely proud to have Randall as part of our Board of Trustees for many years.

MUSTANG HERITAGE FOUNDATION STAFF

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Clinton Shultz

Chief Executive Officer

Over his 27 year career in operations and business leadership, Clinton held positions with market leading companies Ingersoll-Rand (IR), Dorman Products & DexKo Global. As the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the firm’s Specialty Solutions Group, he had the opportunity to merge several acquisitions into one market leading entity. Clinton has a degree in Business Logistics from Pennsylvania State University and Executive Certificate from Wharton School of Business. He’s been an active member of the United States Team Roping Championship circuit since 2002. Clinton lives in the Nashville, TN area with his wife Vicki.

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Danielle Aamodt

Director of Operations & Programs

Danielle, a lifelong equestrian, earned her Bachelor’s in Equine Studies and later pursued a Master’s in Business Administration. She transitioned to equine insurance while managing horse shows and became more involved in Combined Driving. Then, as Director of Driving at U.S. Equestrian, she managed the sport nationally, developed programs, and led the U.S. Driving teams to many successes, including a team gold medal at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. For several years, Danielle taught undergraduate courses at Post University including Equine Business Ethics, Equine Law, Communication for Equine Professionals, and Senior Seminar. Her interest in mustangs blossomed from working with students on research papers and projects centered around the mustang challenges. Danielle enjoys spending time on her small farm outside of Lexington, Kentucky with her terriers, an undisclosed number of cats, a perfect donkey, a warmblood, and of course a mustang pony.

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Devan Stein

Director of Sales & Marketing

Coming from a long line of ranchers, horses and cattle have been an integral part of Devan’s life. While she no longer lives on a ranch, she is proud of the heritage and legacy of her family. Devan has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from Eastern New Mexico University. Her background is in marketing, entrepreneurship, and marketing education at the high school level. Devan feels that it is paramount to preserve the western/rural way of life and is excited to join the Mustang Heritage Foundation team where she will have the opportunity to share her passion. Devan, her husband Chris, and their two dogs recently moved to Tennessee from Texas. They are the proud parents of a son, Cameron, who is attending college at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi.

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Devon O'Day

Director of Membership & Media Development

Devon O’Day has been a career broadcaster known for local, regional and nationally syndicated radio since 1976. She is a member of the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame. As a songwriter, she has had songs recorded by Hank Williams Jr, Pam Tillis, Lee Ann Womack, and many more including a number one for George Strait. As a professional corporate speaker and emcee, she has been at the podium for local and national charities and companies for over 30 years. She is a flagship writer for Guidepost Magazine’s All God’s Creatures Devotion books and magazine with horses being a constant theme. Devon has written several books including My Angels Wear Fur, which began with her story of Maria, an old walking horse that she credits as being her life-saver. Working for the preservation and care of all equines has been a life-calling for Devon as she uses her strong social media platform to get others to understand the importance of responsible ownership, care, and breeding of all horses. In her personal life, she owns Angel Horse Farm, a small sanctuary in Lebanon TN, that homes senior equines and special needs livestock including a blind steer, a pig who hates pigs, and several old goats as well as the more typical dogs and cats.

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Cary Scholtes

Controller

Cary Scholtes grew up riding horses on her grandparents’ farm in Missouri. She started formal riding lessons at age 13, joined local 4-H and pony clubs, then competed on her local hunter/jumper circuit. Her equine passion continued through college, and Cary was president of the Parkland College equestrian team and competed in Intercollegiate Horse Show Association events up to the Zone Finals. She’s excited to bring her experience to the MHF team as she helps mustangs.

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Hannah Hungate

Digital Marketing Manager

Hannah Hungate, who currently resides in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, is no stranger to the horse world. She spent her high school years competing for the National High School Rodeo Association in Barrel Racing, Breakaway Roping, and the Queens contest, where she served for two years as the Miss Tennessee High School Rodeo Queen, promoting the Western way of life and the sport of rodeo. Hannah will graduate Spring 2024 from the University of Mississippi, where she is pursuing her degree in Integrated Marketing Communications with a minor in General Business and a specialization in Social Media. Before joining the MHF team, she worked as a digital marketing intern with the Colorado Horse Sale, helping strategically market consignment horses of all disciplines. She also works as a social media ambassador for the marketing communications team at the University of Mississippi. She wants to make a lasting digital impact in the mustang community and is excited to bring her experience to the Mustang Heritage Foundation in hopes of bringing more of these mustangs home.

TRAINER'S COUNCIL

The Trainer’s Council aims to harness the collective expertise and experience of top mustang trainers to improve the quality and impact of our programs and events.

 

The Council provides guidance, oversight, and support for the ongoing development of the mustang legacy and community.

Top 4

last EMM

  • Mandy Duncan

  • Mike Hurst

  • Amber Espinoza

  • Gavin Huffman

Top 4

past EMM

  • Justis Jacobs

  • Garrett Shanks

  • Casey Hollingsworth

  • Amber Hofmaier

Celebrity Performers

  • Bobby Kerr

  • Elizabeth Deden​​

Youth EMM

​​​

  • Audrey Cowan

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What does the Council do?

ADVISE: Provide expert advice and recommendations on MHF programs, event planning, and educational content. OVERSEE: Assist in evaluating and improving the effectiveness of MHF initiatives. MENTOR: Serve as mentors to emerging trainers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional development. AMBASSADORS: Represent and promote the goals and values of the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the mustang community to a broader audience.

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